A Court Of Family and fire

Almost- Rowan/aelin

Rowan pov.

It has been two days and we are preparing to leave. Everyone is exited and we are orgonising a plan.

"Fenrys will use his power to get the twins out immediately, after they are out of the picture we storm the house. We don't know how many fae will be in there or what their powers are. We must prepare for everything. Lysandra i want you to shift into something as small, fast and discrete as you can and search the place. Once you find aelin come out, do not. I repeat do not try and get her out on your own. Once we find her we dont know what kind of condition she will be in. she probably wont be able to fight so we must do it for her. aedion , lorcan and i will cover you lysandra. Get aelin on your back as a dragon or wyvern and take her out. No matter what get aelin out. Lorcan, aedion, the soldiers and i will fight our way out. No one who helped capture her will be left alive" i explain to them this but lorcan of all people interrupt.

"I applaud your blood lust brother" he tells me " but i think we should leave darwin for aelin"

I nod. I shouldn't be the one to take the kill. I need to make sure everything goes perfectly today. Nothing can go wrong. One wrong move and aelin could be gone. My children could be gone.

"Hey" says lysandra softly "we will get her out"

I nod "i know"

Aelin pov.

Visits to my kids were restricted to once a month once aisling left. But im just happy she got out. My back is a artwork of open wounds and dried blood. There is no one to heal me. My front isnt that much better. It hurts more. Instead of the whipp they just get knives. Knives hurt more. Its slower and sometimes they dont remove them sometimes. But even with the extra pain whips are more traumatic. And darwin knows that. He clawed through my mind to find out.

I hear something. A little bird. The smallest bird i have ever seen. I look closer and i see a small black mark on the inside of one of its wings. Lysandra. The brid shifts. It really is lysandra. She shifts back and goes back out. Why did she leave. Maybe to get help, yea of course. I hear feet stomping down the stairs. And the door swings open, rowan. I cry and he runs to me.

"Im here fireheart. Im here" he looks at my collar and bound limbs. "Ill get out out"

I shake my head.

"The kids. Get them out. Get them out. Them first . get them not me" i shiver crying.

He wipes a tear. "We got them out. Its your turn"

I nodd

"I love yo-" he stops mid sentence.

"aww , such a shame" says dawin. "He was such a handsome fae"

Rowan slumps forward and i see a dagger. Straight through his back. Into his heart. I scream, i scream and cry. I feel the mating bond snapp. I scream louder and louder. I thrash. Trying to reach to him. He is just out of my grasp. My head falls and i cry.

"Aww dont do that" teases dawin "you arent as pretty when you cry. You know i dont like it when you dont look pretty"

I look up and see rowan is gone. Like he was never here. The only blood on the floor is mine. It was an illusion. He is alive. But i am still here.

Rowan pov.

We are traveling into the town. We are almost there. Almost. Almost is never enough. I hate the word almost. It is the word almost. Its the saddest word of them all.

He almost loved her

She was almost loved

She was almost enough

He was almost happy

She was almost safe

He almost saved her

She almost wanted to live

He almost lived

He almost wanted to be alive

She almost got there in time.

See? Saddest word. I look around as see that we are there. It is almost midnight. I motion for aedion, lorcan, fenrys and lysandra to stop. Now we wait. And hope that we will be in time. I hear someone and i whirl around. I see a small girl in the shadows. I draw my sword

"Are you aisling" i ask

"That depends" she moves out of the shaddows "are you rowan"

"Yes"

"Then yes" she replies.

"Where is my family"

"Follow me"

So we follow her.